A pair of North Carolina banks — FNB United and Bank of Granite — surprised industry observers last week, finding investors willing to commit $310 million for an arranged marriage between the struggling companies.

Jason Awad has worn many hats over a long career in Sin City; now he is trying his banking cap once again.

The branch will be mainly a marketing and new account indoctrination center. Smartphones will eliminate most face-to-face transactions, as well as paper checks, currency and cards – not to mention the costs associated with those media.

American Banker offers tough questions for hedge fund manager Bruce Berkowitz to put to the embattled Bank of America CEO on Wednesday. Add your own queries to our list.

University Federal Credit Union plans to open several branches that take design cues from airports, including new tablet-like ATMs that look like the check-in kiosks at airline terminals.

Hamilton State Bancshares Inc. is looking to repurchase up to $4.2 million of its common stock just five months after the Atlanta-area company received a hefty capital infusion to buy other banks.

NBH Holdings Corp. is following up its recent failed bank acquisition in Colorado with a branch deal and name change.

Housing industry executives awoke on Monday to a world reshaped by the U.S. downgrade, but for their corner of the financial markets the pain is mostly psychological.

On Tuesday, the $904 million-asset company said that Lee R. Keith, a director since 2009, as its interim president and chief executive. Keith succeeds Ted T. Awerkamp, who had served in those positions since 2007.

Carpetbaggers they're not, but JPMorgan Chase and PNC are making their presence felt in Atlanta and throughout the Southeast, snapping up branches in states smacked by the financial crisis.

First Citizens BancShares Inc. in Raleigh, N.C., reported a decline in second-quarter earnings after its loan-loss provision jumped.

Capitol Bancorp Ltd. has agreed to sell its interest in Bank of Las Colinas for a second time.

A firm we know needed a $20,000 letter of credit to extend its lease. So, it went in turn to the banks it uses, at each of which it maintains cash deposits well north of an order of magnitude larger than the letter of credit requested. Also, the firm has no debt and has annual revenues in the high seven figures. So, could it get the letter of credit renewed?

In the wake of Standard & Poor's downgrade of U.S. government debt on Friday, fears about capital markets exposure are now taking precedence over mortgages and cancelling out the perceived safety that investors normally ascribe to the largest banks.

First BanCorp of Puerto Rico reported a smaller second-quarter loss than it did a year earlier, due in part to a smaller loan-loss provision and a pair of special gains.

WASHINGTON - Two failures Friday evening cost the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. an estimated $160 million.

The board at Cardinal Bankshares Corp. responded Thursday to a series of demands by Douglas Schaller, rejecting the activist shareholder's assertion that the company should sell itself.

With its coffers at capacity, the capital-flush Cincinnati company said recently it would raise its dividend to equal 100% of its quarterly earnings.

The buzz word "duplicative" has been making the rounds lately, employed by watchdog groups and politicians to describe government programs which overlap and offer redundant services at taxpayer expense.

Forget the crumb of good news in the jobs report. The economy is getting worse, not better. It's time to waive the white flag and lower your price tag unless you are a strong bank.